Golfing aid



May 11, 1065 w. a. mum

GOLFING AID Filed March 15, 1963 2 W. M 6 \II/ Illa-ll m 2 8 Tu 2 vol 1vn \m "*[HHHNITHTTTW S mm% E Vw E W m 3 W 6 Y B F BIA/ Q m -l T B 61W 1|4 1 6|: 6 ll I F 5 5 ll 7\|6|A/ H E H A TTORNE Y United States Patent3,182,401 GOLFING AID Wayne E. Stevens, 209 N. 11th, Ponca City, Okla.Filed Mar. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 265,417 1 Claim. (Cl. 33-46) The presentinvention relates to the game of golf in general, and in particularrelates to a method of determining the proper direction of initialmotion of a ball on a putting green to aid in the effective placement ofthe ball in a cup.

In the game of golf there is no activity which furnishes a greaterchallenge to the skill of the player than the putting game. It is notuncomon for players to develop excellent distance and approach gameswhile remaining all but helpless upon reaching the smooth expanse of thegreen. Commonly this situation results in a general undermining of theenthusiasm of the player for the game as a whole, and in extreme caseshas led to complete abandonment of the activity with a concurrent abruptdecline in the intrinsic value of the equipment involved in theendeavor. The cases are not isolated wherein the player, while notdriven to the extreme of abandoning the game, is neverthelessdiscomfitted to the extent that he may disclaim in an unseemly mannerand otherwise give evidence of acute agitation.

One of the major factors leading to a poor putting game is the inabilityof the player to properly determine the slope of the green and thechange in putting direction which the slope necessitates. When slope isneglected or misjudged, the ball when struck may at first appear to beproperly aligned, only to curve disgustingly due to the acceleration ofthe ball in a vector parallel to the slope. When this occurs, anadditional stroke is then necessary to move the ball nearer to, andhopefully, into, the cup. Often, when the player fails to appreciate thereason for the failure of his first attempt, this procedure may berepeated several times before the ball reaches its goal, or, in thealternative, a putt is conceded.

In the past, a number of aids have been suggested for determiningproperly the amount and direction of the slope of the green. However,none of these aids have proved particularly worthwhile, and a simple,effective, inexpensive green reader has, until the present invention,proved to be an elusive desideratum.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an aid to thegame of golf.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method for readingaccurately the slope of a green in a direction normal to the desiredroll of the ball.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method for correctingfor the slope of a putting green whereby the proper initial path of theball when struck may be readily ascertained.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a method fordetermining the proper direction in which to strike a golf ball to takeadvantage of the slope of the green.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent from the followingdescription and associated drawings wherein at least one method forpracticing the present invention are detailed.

Apparatus useful in practicing this invention includes a referencemember which has a plurality of division lines inscribed thereon. Normalto said division lines is an edge formed on the reference member whichedge is substantially straight and which, in a preferred embodiment, issubstantially normal to the division lines. Means are provided fortemporarily securing said reference member to a rod or golf club in sucha manner that the edge on said member is substantially normal to theshaft of the club.

3,132,41 Patented May 11, 1965 "ice A complete understanding of thisinvention may be had from a fully detailed description of a specificembodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawingsin which:

FIGURES la, lb, and 1c are schematic horizontal plan views showing thesteps of the method of the present invention;

FIGURES 2a, 2b, and 2c are vertical schematic views showing theappearance to the viewer of the apparatus and green shown in FIGURES 1a,1b, and 10 respectively;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of one form of apparatus used inpracticing this invention showing the relationship of a dividedreference member to a spring clip, and;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing an alternate form of theapparatus shown in FIGURE 3 which may be fabricated from a single pieceof material.

Turning now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURE 3, there isshown one form of green reader contemplated by this invention whichcomprises a reference member, such as an elongate, flat plate 11 whichhas formed thereon a substantially straight edge 17 and a plurality ofdivision lines 12 which are numbered from O to 8 beginning at the centerof plate 11. Means for temporarily positioning plate 11 on a rod, suchas the shaft of a golf club, are likewise provided and in the embodimentshown such means comprise a spring clip indicated generally at 13. Aplurality of holding means, such as rivets 14-14, are utilized to secureclip 13 to the rear of plate 11 substantially along the line designated0 in the drawing.

Clip 13 comprises a substantially U-shaped member, the outer portions ofthe arms 15-15 of which are turned outwardly as at 16-16 to aid in theplacement of clip 13 on the shaft of a golf club. Advantageously, thedis tance between arms 16-16 is established at some value intermediatethevalue of the diameter of the club at the handle and at the lower endof the shank, so that the clip may be slipped over the club shank at thelower portion thereof and then moved upwardly until a firm frictionalengagement is obtained due to the taper of the shaft.

For ease in fabrication, the form of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 4 maybe preferred over that shown in FIGURE 3. As will at once be apparent,this structure can be formed from a single piece of material to includesubstantially all the elements shown in FIGURE 3. For purposes ofdistinction, the elements in the alternate structure are designated bynumbers which are higher by a factor of one hundred than the numbers ofcorresponding elements shown in FIGURE 3. It may be noted that while,for clarity, clip 113 is indicated to be above edge 117, this need notcharacterize the structure as actually used. That is to say, thestructure shown in FIGURE 4 will function equally as well if the numberson lines 112 are inverted and placed on the opposite ends of the lines.With such an arrangement, clip 113 will then be subjacent plate 111 whenthe apparatus is applied to the shank of a golf club in a preferredmanner.

In either type of structure, it is critical that clip 13, or 113, bearranged with respect to its associated plate in such a manner that edge17, or 117, is substantially normal to the shaft of the golf club towhich the apparatus is secured. I

It will at once be apparent that the structure discussed thus far may bealtered without departing from the scope of this invention. Forinstance, if desired, edge 17 may be formed in a slot in member 11,while lines 12 need not be spaced equidistant along plate 11, and neednot be parallel or normal to edge 17. In a more radical de parture fromthe disclosed structure, only one side, i.e., either the left or rightside, of plate 11 may be included if such structure is dictated byeconomic or esthetic criteria.

in FIGURES 3 or 4 may be utilized are shown in se-.

quence in the a, b, andc portions of FIGURES 1 and 2. Looking first atFIGURE 1a and 2a, the first step in the method is shown to comprise thepostioning of a rod orrgolf club 18 vertically in such a manner that aball 19 anda cup 21 on a green 22 are in a line coincidental with thelongitudinal axis of club 13 when viewed by the eye of the viewer,indicated schematically at 23. Generally it is preferred to positionclub 18 from about to about 15 feet behind ball 19 and to hold the clubin such a manner that the club head 20 points toward or away from theviewer. As will be apparent from an examination of FIGURE 2a, club 18 isheld so that a green reader secured to the club is viewed just under cup21 while ball 19 is sighted past a point 24 on the shaft of the club.When the apparatus is held in this position, edge 17 of green reader 10is at an acuteangle with the horizon 25 on the surface of the green asseen by the viewer.

Turning now to FIGURES 1b and 2b, the next step in using the apparatusis the tilting of club 18 until edge 17 is substantially parallel withhorizon 25 while maintaining ball 19 in line of sight with point 24 onclub 18. With club 18 held in this position, cup 21 is then sightedacross edge 17 above a numbered division line 12 to determine thedeviation distance. In the view shown, the numbers have not been placedon plate 11 due to the small scale. However, it may be seen that if thelines were numbered after the fashion shown in FIGURE 3, cup 21 wouldthen be sighted above division line number 3 on the right hand portionof green reader 10 for a deviation distance of three units.

The final, position of the apparatus is shown in FIG- URES 1c and 2cwherein it'may be seen that the final position is essentially the sameas the initial position; that is, club 18 is held vertically and ball 19is sighted in line with point 24 on the shaft while cup 21 is locatedalong the vertical axis of club 18 at a point slightly above greenreader 10. With the apparatus in this position,

a point 26 is chosen on green 22,. lying on the line of,

sight 26 from viewers eye 23 to the top of line number 3 on green reader10. Generally point 26 and cup 21- will'fall on a line which issubstantially normal to the line connecting cup 21 and ball 19.

With point 26 chosen, the ball is then addressed in the usual manner andis struck in a direction 27 toward, point 26. As the speed of the balldecreases, the effect of the slope of green 22 on the path of the ballbecomes more pronounced so that the actual path 29 curves to cup 21 andbecomes tangent to the initial line of movement 27 at some point removedfrom the lie-ofthe ball.

It-will be appreciated that in order for the path of the ball to be asshown at 29, it is necessary that the ball be struck with the properamount of force. While the present invention does not remove thenecessity for judgment on the part of the player in choosing the amountof force to apply to the, ball, nevertheless the present invention doesallow the player to concentrate on this portion of his game withoutundue concern about the proper initial direction which the ball shouldtake. 'It,

might be notedthatxsome advantage inidetermining the proper amount offorce may be gained by choosing point 26 at a distance from the ballsubstantially equal to the distance between, the ball and, the cup. Itwill be understood, however, that a point either farther from or closerto the ball may likewise be utilized.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and maybe resorted towithout departing from the function or scope of the invention as'hereinafterdefined by the appended claim.

What-I claim is:

The method of determining the proper initial direction with relation toa cup to direct a ball on a nonhorizontal green which comprises thesteps of:

sighting past a first point on a vertically held rod to said cup, andpast a second point on said rod to said ball;

pivoting said rod around the second point until the rod is normal to thehorizon on said green; determining the deviation distance along a linenormal to said rod to the line of sight to the cup; returning said rodto 'its' initial vertical position, and; sighting past said rod adistance equal to the deviation distance to a point on the green towardwhich the ball is to be directed.

References Cited by theExaminer UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,046,343 12/12Smith ,273-164 1,804,825 5/31 Dahlberg 33- 51 X 2,045,360 6/36Kaufniannt 33-32 2,056,469 10/36 King 3351 2,334,739 11/43 Zak 33-642,463,798 3/49 Paisley 33-46.05 X r 2,562,241 7/51 Picard 3363 X2,670,209 2/54 Fay 33-4605 X 2,723,125 11/55 Comll 3346.05 X 2,770,04311/56 Kwiecinski 33-94 FOREIGN PATENTS 292,579 6/ 16 Germany.

ISAAC LISANN, Primary Examiner.

1. THE METHOD OF DETERMINING THE PROPER INITIAL DIRECTION WITH RELATION TO A CUP TO DIRECT A BALL ON A NONHORIZONTAL GREEN WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF: SIGHTING PAST A FIRST POINT ON A VERTICALLY HELD ROD TO SAID CUP, AND PAST A SECOND POINT ON SAID ROD TO SAID BALL; PIVOTING SAID ROD AROUND THE SECOND POINT UNIT THE ROD IS NORMAL TO THE HORIZON ON SAID GREEN; 